The AlixPartners Annual Global Anti-Corruption Survey (click here) of general counsel, compliance officers, and other senior executives of companies that have annual revenues of $150 million or more and do business in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia reports the following key findings:

Thirty percent (30%) of respondents report they stopped doing business with certain partners because of concerns related to corruption. Survey respondents identified the following areas as the riskiest places to do business: Africa (56%), Russia (53%), Middle East (49%), Central and South America (48%), Mexico (48%) and Southeast Asia (46%).

Fifteen percent (15%) of respondent companies reported they had pulled out of acquisition deals because of possible corruption concerns at the target.

A whopping 97% of respondent companies have distributed written anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies to their board members and employees, and 75% had updated their policies in the past 12 months.

Respondents have identified the following practices as most effective at reducing risk: internal audits, employee training, and greater oversight of books and records or internal controls. Additionally, 73% of respondents said that involvement by audit committees and boards of directors has been effective in reducing risk. Twenty-two percent of respondents said that they received tips related to bribery or corruption during the past year on company-established hotline programs.

Respondents said the biggest obstacles to their companies' anti-corruption efforts and ability to mitigate risk areas were: staffing constraints (65%); variations in local country regulations such as data privacy (65%); and pressure to deliver operating results (58%).

Less than half (43%) of respondents said they regularly conduct due diligence on third-party agents, and only 47% continually perform such reviews of prospective employment candidates.

Eighty percent (80%) of executives at Asian companies said they believe their industries are exposed to significant corruption risk. Respondents in Asian companies also were less willing to cut ties with business partners due to possible corruption risk: 78% of respondents with Asian companies said they had not ceased doing business with partners as a result of such concerns, compared with 45% for the respondent group as a whole.